Comment by commandlinefan
4 hours ago
> it takes 40 univac instructions to run a single risc-v instruction
Which is wild, given:
> The computer’s original purpose was to be used by the Navy to read in radar signals and direct artillery
I'd really be fascinated to see how that was done on such a primitive machine, shame that's probably been lost.
The radar "reading" was done by first plotting analog radar signals to the antique rotary radar displays. Then there would be human operators with a light pen, marking each radar signature on each radar turn.
So the Univac would receive input coordinates for each target and track those in memory each turn.